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With people still talking about the Nationwide Super Bowl ad that brought dramatic attention to the number one killer of kids, preventable injuries, we’re releasing new research that reveals the scope of the problem in a place most parents assume is safe: the home. Every day, six children die from an injury in the home, and 10,000 go to the emergency department for the kinds of injuries that commonly happen in homes.

We talk a lot about safe storage and the importance of keeping medicine up and away, out of reach of children. And that’s important: In 67 percent of emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, the medicine was left within reach of a child, such as in a purse, on a counter or dresser or on the ground.

Injury prevention is not about watching your kids every minute of the day or wrapping them in bubble wrap. It’s the opposite. Injury prevention is about creating an environment where kids can explore and take chances while minimizing the serious injuries and deaths that we can prevent.

Nothing is worse than a parent losing a child – especially if the tragedy was preventable. Each year in the United States, thousands of families lose children this way making it the No. 1 cause of childhood deaths. Millions more are sent to the emergency room every year because of preventable injuries.

Fortunately, these injuries are preventable which means we can do something about them. One of things I am responsible for in my role at Safe Kids Worldwide, is to find partners that share our focus on preventable injury. I am very excited about a new collaboration beginning this year with Nationwide and a program it calls Make Safe Happen. And to show you both why a company joins us in our mission and what the program will aim to do, I thought it’d be easiest to capture a recent conversation I had with Nationwide’s Chief Marketing Officer, Matt Jauchius.

We have some exciting news to share. Safe Kids has entered into a new partnership with Nationwide. Our work together will focus on a national initiative to help families stay safe at home, including fire safety, water safety, and preventing poisoning and falls. This will provide Safe Kids with an opportunity to reach even more families with the safety information they need to keep kids safe and prevent injuries.

Safe Kids Worldwide and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® are once again teaming up to help make your home safer. We encourage parents and caregivers to recycle heavier, box-style, cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions, which can be hazards for children if not placed on a low, stable piece of furniture.

Safe Kids joined other child safety advocates to press for a law with the vision of collecting information on the whys, hows and numbers of infant death, and to create a nationwide standard for tragedy scene investigations and autopsies. The law is part of the legacy of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a relentless fighter for kids. Its passage was thanks to the leadership of his fellow New Jersey lawmaker Frank Pallone, who led the fight in the House of Representatives, and Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-Maine) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

If you're one of those parents who insists on yelling at the officials during your kid’s sporting event, let me start by saying, you’re right. OK? The kid probably did travel. That was a total strike. It was definitely icing. Obvious pass interference. But that doesn’t make up for all the ways we’re wrong.

As a mother of three active kids, I know bumps and bruises are bound to happen – my kids love to try new things and push their limits – but there are ways to prevent the more serious injuries that don’t have to happen.

In 2013, more than 47,000 children were treated in emergency departments for injuries related to sledding, ice skating and snowboarding, and the vast majority of these injuries were preventable.

Every day around the world, more than 500 children lose their lives in traffic crashes. Tens of thousands are injured, sometimes suffering lifelong disabilities. Not only are children at high risk in vehicles, on bicycles, and on motorcycles, they are vulnerable as pedestrians and are often injured or killed in the simple act of walking to school.

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About Our Blog

The Safe Kids blog covers a wide range of safety topics, offering valuable tips for parents and caregivers to help you keep your kids safe. In addition, you'll find personal stories shared by parents, insights for new moms and dads, ways to get involved and take action, and more.